How can i beat better opponents?

This is a difficult answer, as I don't know you, your personality, your style, your technique/level.
I also don't know your opponent.

But for junior level player - meaning you are still young. I would say, focus your training on the basics:
- Footwork - moving around with your feet, not just your hand. so you need to be in good form/shape
- Short game - touch/control/spin/placement
- Service
- Service receive
- 3rd ball / 5th ball
- lots of multiball

So the mindset is - train hard, play smart.
Table Tennis is not always about winning the point, its about not loosing the point - especially against stronger opponents

When you mentioned "better" players, your mind already contemplated defeat which is a negative thought. You must not think negatively now or ever.
"Better" is a very relative term, better against whom? better in what technique? better in past match results? No one is perfect, everyone has weakness.

Your mindset in this and any match from now on should be that of a champion. You must talk to yourself positively like "I am good, I will win" and "feel" the emotion associated with it. Do it often enough you will believe it and it will help your confidence. Before the match, if you feel pressured, take a few minutes to breathe deeply, focus upon the mechanics of breathing until you feel relaxed. Then bolster your self-confidence with positive self-talk and perform shadow strokes that you think are your strengths. Then resolve to play the best you can. Let your training emerge from your fearful self.

That would be the mindset I want you to have: eager to prove your hard work, confident in yourself and think positively during the match. And if this helps, don't fear about losing. Losing is a normal outcome of one who is trying to improve oneself. It's just a test of your improvement in table tennis: not the test of self. You can benefit from the lost by finding out your weaknesses that can be worked upon later.

Play under pressure but don't let the pressure control you.

Learn how to always play at your optimum always in order to be ready for the opportune match where the better player drops his guard. What optimum means is for you to figure out yourself as it means different things to each individual.

Another options, come to Cape Town, i'll make you better than your opponent

Tony, tell Jack to take a long TT vacation in Korea.

6+always take it up as a challenge . i go into competitions playing much better players wil very little chance of loosing. all i do is loose the tohugh about winning or loosing and jsut play the best you can, smart, composed, not angry, passionate, and try to try out new things.. this way i can give some of the players arnked about 15-30 a good game.. im ranked 80 in the country

Der_Echte said:

Tony, tell Jack to take a long TT vacation in Korea.

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Yeah, thats another option.
And in same time, can get in love with the kimchi

Good question Jack.

I think right now in your age category it is very important to know what your game plan is. How does Jack win his points? By keeping this in mind it keeps a positive mindset as you focus on what you need to do during the game, rather than being distracted by external, uncontrollable things.

I heard a good quote yesterday in my training hall, 'Control the Controllable's'.

Getting the basics right are also highly important, Tony and other members here have covered most of them. Being positive is also vital. Self talk, believing in yourself will take you wherever you want to go. Remember Rome was not built in a day.

Think big! If you could upload a video of you in match play or training that will help us take notes and help develop your game.

Hey Jack! That's a really good question to ask and really there are loads of answers that could be right.

Firstly, you need a mindset that makes you playing without fear of your opponent. It doesn't matter who you're playing, anyone is beatable by anyone else and you give yourself the best chance in any match by not letting them defeat you in your head. By describing them as better then you're already giving them more respect than you should be! Without sounding a bit rude or short here, if you want to win then you need to imagine your opponent just as someone to be beaten, and not as someone who is better than you, or someone who can do better things than you, or someone who has been playing longer or is in better form etc. You calling them better means that they already intimidate you, even slightly, and that's really not helping you. You need that confidence and that self-belief that no matter who you play, that if you do the right things then you can win.

Other than that, in matches what I personally do is if I'm playing someone who *on paper* would be expected to beat me, then I just make sure that they have to work damn hard to win! I want them coming off the table thinking 'Wow, I definitely don't want to be playing that guy again!'. Don't give them any silly or cheap points - play positive, strong shots (but don't just swing and hope they go on!) and just make them work hard to win points against you. Atleast this way even if you do lose you can keep your head held high knowing that you fought, didn't give in and made that 'better' player a right battle!

Finally, like Dan says you must have a game plan. Know your strengths and know how you can win points reliably. You should have a game plan for every match that you play anyway but when you play people at a higher level you get less points handed to you cheaply so you have to work harder to win them. Knowing what your strengths are and pairing these up to your opponents weaknesses is really, really important if you're looking to cause an upset.

So yeah, there you have it. While the stuff that you do on the table is obviously important, you must be prepared mentally if you want to get that big win. Be positive, don't give your opponent as some kind of better player than yourself and definitely be prepared to knuckle down and graft for each and every point!

Hi Everyone!
I am also going to compete in a junior tournament in February 2014 and I hope you guys can help me. I am an offensive player, a shakehand-player. I win most of points by my forehand loop and sometimes the lob far from the table. But I have a really weak backhand, as the chop is the only reliable backhand stroke of mine. So can you help me on how to avoid balls coming to my backhand and have a lot of ball going to my forehand area? I'd really appreciate all of your helps. Thanks a lot

Above all develop gud ball feel...thn ...develop ur consistancy, placements and reach in rallies. Improve the quality of ur strokes, imean outgoing balls quality...focus on learning to adjust with diffrent styles tht u may hv to face nxt season. Do physical workouts fr legs, abs,lower back ,wrist and shoulders.. and watch lot of matches/videos and try to analyze the strategies and chng in strategies hpnin in a match.

Sent from my HTC One using Tapatalk

xuanviet said:

Hi Everyone!
I am also going to compete in a junior tournament in February 2014 and I hope you guys can help me. I am an offensive player, a shakehand-player. I win most of points by my forehand loop and sometimes the lob far from the table. But I have a really weak backhand, as the chop is the only reliable backhand stroke of mine. So can you help me on how to avoid balls coming to my backhand and have a lot of ball going to my forehand area? I'd really appreciate all of your helps. Thanks a lot

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Everyone has some kind of weakness.
So from strategy and tactic point of view, you must only serve balls where the return will be on forehand side, and becareful of BH flick returns, as if your opponent figures your weakness out, then every service return to your BH by flick then you are in trouble.

Another thing is, work on your BH for 1 to 2 months. Get a multiball feeder to hit the ball fast into your BH at random spots, and practise passive and active blocking.

Other than that, you can't really avoid balls coming to your backhand, unless, you use FH over 100% of the table.

Tony's Table Tennis said:

Everyone has some kind of weakness.
So from strategy and tactic point of view, you must only serve balls where the return will be on forehand side, and becareful of BH flick returns, as if your opponent figures your weakness out, then every service return to your BH by flick then you are in trouble.

Another thing is, work on your BH for 1 to 2 months. Get a multiball feeder to hit the ball fast into your BH at random spots, and practise passive and active blocking.

Other than that, you can't really avoid balls coming to your backhand, unless, you use FH over 100% of the table.

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Thank you. I will try my best to improve

I agree with what has been said about mental state and working on the basics. Remember that good players will find your weakness and exploit it ruthlessly. Find out what that is and work on that.

Thanks for sharing great information.

Amazing posts on this topic guys, enjoyed all the reads.

jackmasterflash said:

ok cool, i play cadet leagues so ill upload one from that, then if you would check it out, altho my next tournament is in february, so could be a while.

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Okay awesome, looking forward to this